A CROSS-PLATFORM FINITE ELEMENT/FINITE DIFFERENCE APPLICATION FRAMEWORK

RESEARCHERS ARE DEVELOPING A CROSS PLATFORM APPLICATION FRAMEWORK TO SIMPLIFY NUMERICAL SIMULATION PROBLEMS WHILE TAKING ADVANTAGE OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES SUCH AS PARALLEL AND DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING. APPLICATION FRAMEWORKS (AFS) ARE EXTENSIVE PROGRAMS WHICH ARE SPECIALIZED INTO PARTICULAR APPLICATIONS BY ADDING CODE SPECIFIC TO EACH APPLICATION. THE PRINCIPAL PURPOSE OF THE PROPOSED AF IS TO FACILITATE THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENTIFIC AND ENGINEERING NUMERICAL SIMULATION APPLICATIONS. THE AF INCORPORATES METHODS REQUIRED FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF FINITE ELEMENT AND FINITE DIFFERENCE SIMULATION. IT IS WRITTEN IN THE C++ LANGUAGE AND USES EXISTING SOFTWARE LIBRARIES WHENEVER APPROPRIATE. TO SIMPLIFY THE AFS USE AND TO SHIELD THE USER FROM THE INNER WORKING OF THE COMPUTER AND MODELING ALGORITHM, A HIGH LEVEL OF ABSTRACTION IS EMPLOYED. TO DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF THE PROJECT, A FULL APPLICATION IS BEING DEVELOPED WITH THE PROTOTYPE AF. PROGRAMS DEVELOPED WITH THIS AF ARE PORTABLE, EXPANDABLE AND EASY TO USE. THEY HAVE A SHORTER DEVELOPMENT CYCLE, ARE MORE ROBUST, PROVIDE MANY SERVICES AUTOMATICALLY, AND SUPPORT PARALLEL AND DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING. THE FRAMEWORK WILL BE FULLY DOCUMENTED, AND MADE COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC AND TO EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.